What to expect as Tim Walz makes keynote speech at DNC
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
(CHICAGO) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will have his big moment at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night, where he will deliver the keynote speech and accept the party’s nomination for vice president.
Walz has been in the national spotlight for just two weeks since Vice President Kamala Harris announced him as her running mate pick earlier this month. With his prime-time speech at the DNC, Walz plans to introduce himself to America, according to the Harris-Walz campaign.
In his remarks, the Midwesterner plans to share his biography — from growing up in a small town in Nebraska to working as a high school social studies teacher and football coach before he was elected to Congress in 2006. The convention plans to showcase his impact as an educator in a video earlier in the night featuring five of his former students, according to the campaign.
Another former student of his, Ben Ingman, will nominate Walz along with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, according to the campaign. Walz coached Ingman in basketball and track in the seventh grade, the campaign said.
Walz’s time as a football coach has become a major part of the image the Harris campaign is painting of him, handing out signs that read “COACH!” at rallies since he joined the ticket.
Walz will also talk about his military service, which has come under scrutiny following his selection at Harris’ running mate.
Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard at the age of 17 and retired 24 years later, prior to running for Congress. Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance has alleged Walz is guilty of “stolen valor” for the way the Democrat has referred to his service. On the campaign trail, Walz has fiercely defended his service, saying at a rally last week that he is “damn proud” of his military record.
Earlier in Wednesday’s programming, the DNC will play a short video highlighting his service in the National Guard and his commitment to improving the lives of veterans, according to the campaign. The video will include remarks from Sgt. Al Bonnifield, who served with Walz in the Minnesota National Guard, and Cpl. Mike McLaughlin, an Iraq war veteran who worked with Walz when he was in Congress on the “Forever GI” bill, which expanded veterans’ education benefits, according to the campaign.
In his DNC speech, Walz also plans to address what he will bring to the White House and what Harris will do for working families, according to the campaign.
It is unclear if Walz will bring up reproductive rights. The father of two has often talked on the campaign trail about his and his wife Gwen’s fertility struggle. He has connected their experience to the bans on in vitro fertilization (IVF) put in place this past spring in Alabama and attacking Republicans over reproductive rights restrictions. He has frequently talked about their fertility journey generally, referring to IVF and treatments “like it.”
In new comments this week, Gwen Walz revealed for the first time publicly that the fertility treatment they used was intrauterine insemination, or IUI — not IVF, as had been broadly assumed.
The detail that Gwen Walz did not use IVF, but rather a different treatment, quickly led to another attack from Vance, who said that the governor “lied” and should know the difference, having been involved in the process.
In response, the Harris campaign called Vance’s attack “just another example of how cruel and out of touch Donald Trump and JD Vance are when it comes to women’s healthcare.”
Gwen Walz did address their fertility journey in a biographical video released by the Harris-Walz campaign earlier Wednesday.
“Of all the things he’s done, Tim loves being a dad,” she said. “We struggled to have kids and fertility treatments made it possible. There’s a reason our daughter is named Hope.”
Gwen Walz also highlighted the governor’s time in the military.
“His dad served during the Korean War and that meant a lot to Tim,” she said. “And so he enlisted right after his 17th birthday and served 24 years in the National Guard, rising to command sergeant major.”
The video also touched on his years as a public school teacher, coach and founding faculty adviser to a gay-straight alliance.
“His focus has always been helping working people like those he grew up with,” she said.
ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Will McDuffie and Isabella Murray contributed to this report.
(CHICAGO) —Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday unveiled her economic platform, her first major policy rollout since becoming the Democratic nominee.
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday held a press conference in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he said he’s “entitled” to insult his Democratic opponent because he doesn’t respect her and attacked her record on the economy.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Bulletproof glass shields Trump at North Carolina rally
Former President Donald Trump spoke behind bulletproof glass at his rally in North Carolina on Wednesday as new security measures are being put in place after the assassination attempt against the former president.
Trump was surrounded by the glass barriers as he addressed supporters in Asheboro. The event marked his first outdoor rally since the shooting on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, during which Trump and two others were injured and one person was killed.
-ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler
RFK Jr. planning to leave 2024 race: Sources
Robert Kennedy Jr. is planning to drop out of the race by the end of this week, sources familiar with the decision tell ABC News.
Sources say that Kennedy is leaning toward endorsing former President Donald Trump, though the sources cautioned the decision is not yet finalized and could still change. One source added that the hope is, in part, to finalize things quickly in order to try to blunt momentum from the DNC.
Kennedy is set to address the nation on Friday, his campaign said earlier Wednesday.
-ABC News’ Aaron Katersky, Will McDuffie, Olivia Rubin, John Santucci and Katherine Faulders
RFK Jr. to address nation Friday about ‘path forward’
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will “address the nation” live Friday to discuss his “path forward,” his press secretary posted on X Wednesday.
The campaign did not immediately offer any more specifics.
-ABC News’ Will McDuffie
Harris headed to Milwaukee rally tonight
Democratic candidate for president, Vice President Kamala Harris, is set to speak at a rally in Milwaukee on Tuesday, according to her campaign.
Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ vice presidential running mate, will be in attendance, the campaign confirmed. Also expected at the event are Congresswoman Gwen Moore, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, members of the Milwaukee Bucks franchise, including Khris Middleton and President Peter Feigin, and labor leaders.
Harris and Waltz appeared at the DNC in Chicago on Monday night, where Harris surprised delegates by taking the stage early in the night for a brief speech.
Tuesday’s rally, which is being held at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, is aimed at energizing Wisconsin voters, the campaign said.
Iran denies involvement in attempts to hack Trump, Biden campaigns
Iran is denying reports it was involved in attempts to hack the presidential campaigns of former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, the latter of which while he was still in the race.
In a statement, the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations, said that reports of attempted hacking, which came from Google and Microsoft, are “unsubstantiated.”
“Such allegations are unsubstantiated and devoid of any standing. As we have previously announced, the Islamic Republic of Iran harbors neither the intention nor the motive to interfere with the U.S. presidential election,” the statement read. “Should the U.S. government genuinely believe in the validity of its claims, it should furnish us with the pertinent evidence—if any—to which we will respond accordingly.”
-ABC News’ Pierre Thomas
7:32 AM EDT Bernie Sanders to speak at DNC on ‘lowering health care costs’
Lowering health care costs will be a central theme at the Democratic National Convention this week, campaign and convention officials said on Monday, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), confirmed as one notable program speaker set to focus upon the issue — specifically on “lowering Rx drug prices” and “taking on Big Pharma.”
Speakers throughout the week like Sanders, California Rep. Robert Garcia, Illinois Rep. Lauren Underwood and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will highlight the support of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for strengthening the Affordable Care Act, convention officials shared first with ABC News.
In a Friday speech setting out a string of economic proposals, Harris pledged to “lower the cost of insulin and prescription drugs for everyone.” She also said she’d “demand transparency from the middlemen who operate between Big Pharma and the insurance companies, who use opaque practices to raise your drug prices and profit off your need for medicine.”
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
Kerry Washington, Tony Goldwyn and more to host DNC
Actors Kerry Washington, Tony Goldwyn, Mindy Kaling and commentator Ana Navarro will serve as hosts at the Democratic National Convention this week, convention officials confirmed to ABC News.
Each will host one night of the four-day convention, starting the programming with opening remarks and reappearing onstage throughout the night.
Goldwyn will host Monday night, Navarro on Tuesday and Kaling on Wednesday. Washington will host on Thursday, the night Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepts her nomination.
CNN first reported this news.
Harris and Walz debut new campaign buses and kick off tour ahead of DNC
Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz debuted their new campaign buses Sunday and kicked off a bus tour of southwestern Pennsylvania ahead of this week’s Democratic National Convention.
Upon their arrival on Air Force Two, a few hundred supporters greeted Harris, Walz and their spouses at a hangar where the new were buses parked.
Supporters told ABC News they were thrilled by Harris’ candidacy, with one saying she had not felt this excited about politics in years. Some said they had never volunteered for a campaign before signing up to work on Harris’.
“I was excited about Biden, but I am a million times more excited about Kamala,” Nicole Molinaro, a Pittsburgh-area mom, said. “I think that we need her leadership. We need her intelligence. We need her progressive, you know, stance. I think we need her experience. We need everything about Kamala.”
Another supporter, Edward Freel, said he was unsure about Harris at first, “but then, as I started listening better and following her, [I thought] this woman is going to be good for this country.”
Trump campaign releases counterprogramming schedule for DNC week
During the week of the DNC, Former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance will be out on the campaign trail, holding events in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.
Trump allies — including Sens. Ron Johnson and Rick Scott, and Rep. Byron Donalds — will travel to Chicago to host press conferences every day of the convention. The Trump team will also give a press conference on Thursday ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris accepting the Democratic party’s nomination.
“As they meet Americans where they are in battleground states across the country, President Trump and Senator Vance will remind voters that under their leadership, we can end inflation, protect our communities from violent criminals, secure the border, and Make America Great Again,” Trump Campaign Senior Advisors Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Kelsey Walsh
Michelle Obama to speak at DNC this week
Former first lady Michelle Obama will speak at the DNC in Chicago this week, ABC News has confirmed with her office.
Her appearance, first reported by Essence Magazine, will be among a lineup of prominent Democratic leaders who are rallying in support of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Former President Barack Obama is also scheduled to speak at the DNC.
According to a source familiar with the planning, Michelle Obama will speak on Tuesday — the same day as the former president.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart and Gabriella Abdul-Hakim
Former Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard will help Trump prepare for presidential debate
Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard will assist Trump in preparing for his first debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.
“[Trump] does not need traditional debate prep but will continue to meet with respected policy advisors and effective communicators like Tulsi Gabbard, who successfully dominated Kamala Harris on the debate stage,” Trump campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote in a statement to ABC News, confirming a development first reported by The New York Times.
Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii and a one-time Democratic presidential candidate during the 2020 election, gained brief momentum during her presidential run after challenging Harris on the debate stage on topics like criminal prosecutions.
Since leaving the Democratic Party, Gabbard has been gaining traction among Trump supporters, and more recently she has appeared on Fox and other conservative news outlets attacking Harris.
– ABC News’ Rachel Scott, Soo Rin Kim, Kelsey Walsh, and Lalee Ibssa
Election 2024 updates: ABC News Harris-Trump debate to be held in Philadelphia
The first debate between Vice President Harris and former President Trump will be held by ABC News at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
The Sept. 10 debate will be moderated by ABC News anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis.
It will air live at 9:00 p.m. ET on the network and on its 24/7 streaming network ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu.
(CHICAGO) — When Kentucky state Rep. Rachel Roberts was first running for her seat, she was advised to not use a word common in political campaigns: “values.”
Roberts, now the only Democrat representing northern Kentucky in the state legislature, was running in a 2020 special election in competitive region of the state just outside of Cincinnati at a time when Republicans had a stranglehold on rhetoric on “freedom,” “patriotism” and the American flag.
“I’d get hammered,” Roberts said she was told. “The Republicans would say Democrats aren’t the party of values.”
Walking around the Democratic National Committee this week, things couldn’t be more different.
The word “freedom” is on seemingly on the lips of every attendee and speaker — and the name of Beyonce’s hit song and now-campaign anthem. Audience chants of “USA!” puncture speakers’ remarks as they wave signs saying the same. Camo hats bearing the names of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pockmark the crowd. And musician Jason Isbell performed the country hit song “Something More Than Free.”
The convention marks a culmination of decades of Democratic efforts to take back patriotism after years of Republicans owning messaging around “freedom” and the American flag.
For years, the party lamented the domination Republicans held on symbols of patriotism, a monopoly that started in during the Reagan presidency and that Democrats couldn’t break.
“You had a Republican Party that in the 80s and 90s, seized the freedom mantle using guns. The Second Amendment was America’s first freedom,” said Jim Kessler, the co-founder of Third Way, a center-left think tank. “Right to life was a version of freedom, too.” Where Democrats supported freedom was a license to behave poorly, like burning a flag.”
Now, after having been ceded to Republicans for decades “freedom” is the word bouncing off the walls of Chicago’s United Center. And Democrats are reveling in the reversal of their messaging fortunes.
“Reclaiming the flag and reclaiming freedom and democracy, I think that was a feeling broadly. But I think within the last several cycles, it became clearer how to do that in a way that had broad appeal and resonated with people,” said one Democratic strategist with ties to Harris’ team.
After decades being shut out from leaning into patriotism, Democrats said they were handed an opening by their sworn enemy — former President Donald Trump.
The Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, spurred by Trump’s conspiracy theories about the 2020 election results and led by his supporters, jolted the transfer of power from the former president to his successor. And the Supreme Court decision scrapping constitutional abortion protections allowed Democrats to go on offense on a culture war in which they’d long been in a defensive crouch.
All the sudden, Democrats said, democracy was teetering. Women’s bodily autonomy was at risk. And the battle for “freedom” was on.
“The Dobbs decision all of a sudden gave Democrats the opportunity for a reset button on that issue, on patriotism. And I think Donald Trump gave us the opportunity on Jan. 6 to start retaking those themes,” former Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, D, said, referencing the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“The combination of Trump and January 6 and the Dobbs decision gave Democrats an opportunity to reset and say, ‘this is really what freedom means. That is not freedom, folks, that is oppression, that is autocracy. Freedom means liberty, and this is what we stand for.'”
Democrats didn’t storm the gates right away.
With President Joe Biden still as the party’s standard bearer, he and his campaign focused on a fight for democracy, while also pushing for codification of abortion protections — two issues that weren’t consistently and explicitly linked in campaign messaging.
But after the president ended his campaign and Harris rose as his replacement atop Democrats’ tickets, the messaging changed.
“Freedom” became her rallying cry — the climax of a push by Harris and the party at large.
“Democrats had been concerned about Republicans taking over these quintessentially American words for a while, ‘freedom,’ ‘liberty,'” said Jamal Simmons, Harris’ former communications director in the vice president’s office. “The Democrats were trying to figure it out. The vice president was very focused on how Democrats can recast this word.”
Now, “freedom” is being used as a catchall.
Beyond freedom to access reproductive health care and a democratic process, the message is being used by Harris to push for everything from freedom for students to go to school without being shot to freedom to “get ahead” economically and more.
“Are we fighting for freedom? That’s what I thought,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said at a meeting of the Democratic National Committee’s women’s caucus. “Freedom is not drowning in medical debt. Freedom is earning the same salary as a man does for doing the same job…Freedom is about making our own decisions about our own bodies.”
To be certain, Democrats aren’t dominating the war over “freedom.”
Republicans still lean hard on patriotism, adorning their rallies and suit jacket lapels with American flags and turning Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American” into a conservative hymn. And the party still is able to say it wants more funding for the military than its Democratic foes in Congress, who insist on matching boosts in Pentagon spending with rises in funds for other domestic priorities.
But for Democrats, just being in the fight for one of the most potent symbols in electoral politics is a breath of fresh air.
“I think the narrative has taken some of those words and said that they belong to Republicans, just like, apparently, red trucker hats only belong to Republicans,” Roberts, a delegate to the Democratic National Committee and now a Democratic leader in the Kentucky state House, told ABC News. “And we are demanding, no, these are universal words.”
(WASHINGTON) — South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace moved to force a full House vote to impeach United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle for high crimes and misdemeanors.
Mace filed the impeachment resolution as privileged on the House floor late Monday at 8:26 p.m. ET.
Director Cheatle “has been derelict in her duty to well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office to which she holds,” Mace said on the floor.
Mace also highlighted Cheatle’s testimony from Monday morning’s Oversight Committee hearing, saying the director “acknowledged on July 22, 2024, that the events of July 13, 2024, were the most significant operation failure of the Secret Service in decades.”
This move by the congresswoman forces the House to take up the measure within two legislative days.
